Cinematic Hell: The Pink Angels (1971)

Director: Larry G Brown
Stars: John Alderman, Tom Basham, Henry Olek, Bruce Kimball, Maurice Warfield and Robert Biheller

When I started my Cinematic Hell project, the aim was to watch (or rewatch) some of the worst movies of all time and try to build a primer into who, what and why. Much of my planning was on including a suitably wide range of titles, genres and key names to take care of the 'who' and the 'what', but over time the 'why' of it all took over. I became fascinated about why films like these were made, why anyone ever thought they might have been a good idea. Perhaps inevitably at that point, the scope morphed a little from bad movies to inexplicable ones. After all, there's a huge crossover between the two, and most of the films I'd covered fit both categories because the more inexplicable a picture is, the more likely it is to be really bad too. Yet The Pink Angels is something of an exception. While it's certainly no great cinematic achievement, it's capable in so many ways that it escapes the usual levels of badness. Yet it remains wildly inexplicable.

Cinematic Hell: Manos: Hands of Fate (1966)

by Hal Astell

Director: Harold P Warren

Stars: Tom Neyman, John Reynolds, Diane Mahree and Hal Warren

Buy Manos: Hands of Fate on DVD

Ask any random moviegoer what the worst film of all time is and they'll generally throw back Plan 9 from Outer Space because they just don't know any better. It has to be the mostly widely seen really bad movie of its era, it features more outré celebrities than any John Waters movie ever made and it got special attention in the high profile Tim Burton/Johnny Depp biopic of its director, Ed Wood, so it's simply the easiest choice. Ask people who actually know about the really bad films, though, people like the writers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and films that make Plan 9 from Outer Space look like Citizen Kane (well not quite but you get the picture), and they'll come up with a whole bunch of other suggestions. The one that tends to sink through all the dross to the very very bottom is this one, Manos: The Hands of Fate. It's supposed to be a horror movie but Quentin Tarantino, who owns what may be the only 35mm print of the film, calls it his favourite comedy of all time. Now I've finally seen it, I can understand why.

A Sequel to Manos: The Hands of Fate?

Oooh! I'm excited for this one! Although, technically, a sequel to Manos would seem absurd, I am highly, highly intrigued! Will it be better than the original? I don't even think there are odds on that in Vegas. Entertainment Weekly has called Manos: The Hands of Fate the worst film ever made. If you've seen it, you probably agree. The original was made famous by the cheesy movie-savants at Mystery Science Theater 3000... 'nuff said!

BUY MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE ON DVD!

Here's a fun little precursor to the sequel of the century from the production company, Valley Lodge Presents.

Visit them online at www.torgolives.com!